17 May 2019:  IOM organized the ninth regular coordination meeting of the directors of Border Police agencies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo*. These regular gatherings serve to exchange information on migration trends and routes as well as main changes in smugglers’ modus operandi. Considering that in summer usually the number of arrivals increase, representatives of the Western Balkan countries working on risk analysis and contingency planning have also been included in the discussion. The meeting was organized in the framework of the regional program “Enhancing Capacities and Mechanisms to Identify and Protect Vulnerable Migrants in the Western Balkans”, financed by the U.S. State Department, Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration.

* References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).